Handling Facebook's latest Ads changes! Consumers gain control
The age of barraging consumers with irrelevant ...

Consumers gain control

The age of barraging consumers with irrelevant online advertisements is a thing of the not-so-distant past. Facebook's recent feature allowing users to hide ads and offer feedback will benefit any company aiming to increase engagement levels with their consumers.

From an advertising perspective, the feature will limit the dollars digital strategists spend delivering advertisements to individuals who, based on the feedback they've offered on Facebook, either don't like ads or find them intrusive to their experience. Being able to identify customers who aren't receptive to online advertisements is just as critical as determining those who are.

The future of ad placement

As the digital space evolves and targeting consumers with relevant ads becomes standard practice, advertisers will need to be much more granular with their targeting in order to determine who is seeing a specific ad. Advertisers will also find themselves with the opportunity to speak directly with users. Offering persuasive assets and messaging will be integral to these customer interactions.

We've addressed how this feature is beneficial to advertisers but should there be a mass movement of users hiding ads, advertisers may choose to move off of Facebook and onto other platforms. Twitter's platform is quickly evolving and other social networks like Pinterest and Polyvore are not far behind when it comes to boosting the visibility of company profiles online.

Filtering the data

Leveraging Facebook data is key in assuring brands are introduced to the right people. By feeding first-party data through Facebook, advertising teams are able to identify new target customers based on their existing customer database. Advertisers can turn to Facebook data to target new users based on age/interests.

Consumer control started with simple actions like having the option to opt out of email campaigns. Beyond this, certain social platforms encourage users to interact with the advertiser. Reddit, for example allows advertisers to post an ad and community members to comment in the thread below. People have been responding to ads with their comments and opinions for a long time; it's because the online advertising space is evolving that we're realizing the outcome.

The new hide option and the next feature to launch will empower consumers to dictate which ads they're served going forward. In my eyes, this is a positive. As people spend more time on mobile phones and in apps like Facebook, the role Facebook plays in connecting advertisers with consumers is continuously evolving.